


Pocket Monsters: Burst-Esque

by uulhada



Category: Pocket Monsters: Explorers of Darkness, ベイブレードバースト | Beyblade Burst (Anime)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-09 20:50:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14723378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uulhada/pseuds/uulhada
Summary: " three; smiles go for miles. "





	1. GLUE.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RAKKU](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=RAKKU).



> [ a.n ; pls enjoy a wholesome friendship between two kids. ]

_"Hold on just a little longer. . . Okay-? Please, hang on-"_

 

'Today is the day I'll do it. Right? Right! Just. . . Power through, this is nothing, you've done worst!' How annoying. She'd hype herself up, only for failure, Mio knew well enough how she was in these situations. After five attempts, it was more than clear to her how this out end up; again. With a deep breath, she stepped up onto the grate, staring straight ahead at the building she'd soon be in; as an apprentice, fighting for the good of this world. Exploring the deepest depths of the earth, and meeting amazing people, all whom she'd never forget.

 

"SCANNING."

 

"Eeek!" She attempted to jump back, far away from the grate, but stripped over her own feet and fell on the skirt of her dress. Aish. First, she felt the hurt, second, she felt the shame. Third, she felt the hopelessness.

 

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? WHERE DID THE FOOT GO?"

 

"I-It's- still here-" Mio muttered under her breath, carefully standing herself up, and brushing off the dirt at the back of her clothes. Embarrassing.

 

"BRO I DON'T SEE ANYTHING, I'M GONNA HAVE TO PASS THIS ONE."

"SHUT UP YOU TALK SO LOUD."

 

With furrowed brows and a little pout, Mio turned on her heel and scampered out of anyone's view. Anywhere was better than here; even if this place was where she wanted to be. Her shoes clicked against the pavement, until they started to quiet and slow down. . . In a minute, it was just a small crunch, a soft one at that. Her heels sunk in the warm sand on the beach, an open beach. Water as far as the eye could see. Waves rolling over one another, crashing along the horizon, lit up by the gorgeous egg yolk-like sun.

 

As much as she'd like to throw herself down in the sand, and end up crying, it would ruin the view. No one else was around, but, she'd still have ruined it. For whatever deity was up in the sky, or anyone who could walk past. Her thin arms coiled around herself, and she slowly looked to the side, where the wind was coming from. She couldn't see the drafts, no one could, but she liked feeling the cool breeze in her hair. . .

 

"Oh my gosh-!" Her eyes lit up at the sight of something crippled in the sand. Looking down at her feet for a moment, she scampered over to what was on the ground, only to find a person fast asleep. They were hardly wet at all, so they couldn't have been washed up from the ocean, but. There were no other explanations, unless something drastic happened. Mio dropped down to her knees and carefully placed a hand on the person's shoulder. Their skin was so cold. It was a frail looking young boy, possibly around her age. He looked to be sleeping just fine, but his skin was frighteningly pale. Locks of blonde hair fell over his eyes and cheek, lips slightly parted, he was more on his side. His clothes were so thin and almost useless, it was like he was wearing mere rags, from some sort of slums. A simple yellow tank top and brownish slacks. The ends were just barely dampened with water, possibly from the bit of waves here and there.

 

"Excuse me? Are you okay? Hello?" This wouldn't wake him up, she was speaking so quietly anyway. Her hand gave his shoulder a small shake, then she noticed his closed eyes slightly twitched. He'd catch a cold if he was here all night, she had to get him up. "Please wake up, wake up." Her hand gave him another small shake, then another. . . No avail. Her hand brushed away the hair from his forehead and she pressed the back of it against his skin. It was cold. This wasn't good. Mio may have panicked more than needed, but even still. What if he was half dead? or more? Scary thoughts. . .

 

"Please wake up!" She raised her voice, and shook at him again, continuously.

 

"N-nngh. . ." He screwed his eyes shut, and let out a small groan. Mio immediately came to a halt, and let him wake himself up. It took a while, but his eyes slowly cracked open, thank goodness. He squinted. His eyes were incredibly dark, almost black, maybe he really was dead?

 

"H-hello there. . ." Mio trailed off, furrowing her brows in concern. His eyes lifted to come into contact with hers. His eyesight was blurry, but after a few blinks, things seemed to come clear. A girl. She was lit up warmly by the sunset, just as everything else was, the rocks, sand, and seashells, even a little crab off to the side. His head was nearly splitting in half, a disgusting migraine hit him like a brick. This girl was so bright, it kind of hurt his eyes. White hair was draped along her shoulders and down her back. Her hair was so long, it was sitting in the sand just like she was. Her eyes. . . He couldn't tell what colour they were. She wore a long sleeved pink dress, and a ultramarine blue vest over top, with tailcoats. At her dress had a peter pan collar with lace, and under was a white tie. He was staring, just in case if she wasn't trustworthy, but this girl didn't mind at all.

 

"Ugh,," another pulse ran through his head, and he winced. Carefully, he started to sit himself up.

 

"Oh, careful! You just woke up, you'll hurt yourself," Mio called out, trying to stabilize him. Finally, he sat up with his legs crossed and stared down in his lap, messing with his fingers. "Are you alright?" Mio asked, and he lifted his head, blinking his dark eyes. They were rather large, like, hues of dark pools.

 

"Yeah." He responded lowly, with a tired, strained voice. He hadn't realized how exhausted he was. Mio frowned. She wasn't buying any of it.

 

"Here, give me your hand." She didn't give him time to actually obey, Mio already took his hand. It was bigger than hers, in fact; her hand was kind of tiny. Her other hand lifted up his bangs and placed a palm against his forehead. He stared down at their hands, and slightly squinted when they lit up a soft green. A slightly cooling sensation pressed against his forehead, it was rather soothing, felt a lot better than his headache. "You must have hit your head somewhere?" She mumbled, pulling her hands away, back to her own lap. Then the feeling just left, disappointing really. Although, his headache was definitely gone. "What's your name?"

 

Name, name, what was his name. . . He racked his brain for a little, and, it seemed to have been the only thing he remembered at all. "Free. De la Hoya."

 

"That's a strange name? She jested with a small laugh. While he couldn't remember anything, he knew for a fact that it wasn't the first time he'd heard that. "My name is Park Vie Miora. Just, call me Mio."

 

He nodded.

 

"So, what are you doing out here?"

 

He shook his head. Mio took that as an 'I have no idea'. They sat there for a while, confused as of what to say. Free didn't thank her for whatever she'd done, and Mio didn't bother asking anything more. It seemed his memory was completely wiped. All except for his name; which Mio had a hard time believing was real, too. The shuffle of sand caught both of their attentions, and Mio lifted her head to the right. Someone was coming closer. They didn't have many distinct features, asides from looking rather shady.

 

"Excuse me, miss." They spoke up. Mio was about to answer, before she was cut off immediately. A boot almost like steel, stomped down right at her forearm. It was definitely going to leave a mark. It happened right in front of Free's eyes, but he was too confused to have done anything. "Thank you." The culprit easily slipped a hand in her pocket, and pulled out; what looked like a piece of garbage. A stone, some, weird looking stone. Then they were gone, into a cave at the end of the beach. Now there was some random girl in front of him with a boot mark on her arm.

 

". . . Are you okay." It hardly sounded like a question. Frankly, he was just trying to repeat what she had done for him. He slowly reached out a hand and pressed it against her arm, but she only cried out instead, and he gave up on that.

 

"I'm fine." Mio responded quietly, slightly trembling. "But- that thing. That rock he took, it's really, important. I can't lose it."

 

"That stupid stone?"

 

". . . Yeah."

 

Why did she care so much about a dumb stone. There were so many on the beach, almost exactly like that one (and to be honest, he thought the stone was kind of hideous. Especially compared to the girl who wanted it so badly). She pulled herself up and rubbed at her now, bruised arm. It'd be like that for a while.

 

"I know, this a lot to ask but. . . Will you please help me get it back?"

 

Free lifted a brow. Well, he did kind of owe her, but at the same time. Free couldn't care less.

 

"Please?" Her eyes were all glassy. If she didn't ask that second time, he'd have turned her down, but. Now he felt a little bad. Free shut his eyes for a moment before letting out a small sigh.

 

"Fine."


	2. PASTRY.

It's dead silent, asides from the echoes of water droplets into little pools on the hard ground. The echoes of everything made some sounds seem closer than they really were. Mio could have sworn she'd head a scream here and there, then whipped her head around. . . Only to see Free, with his hands shoved in his pockets, stalking after her. His head was lazily tilted to the side, and he'd just blink at her, as if to ask; 'what's your problem?'

 

Nervous, Mio would just bow her head and continue on, before something in her had snapped, and she turned around again.

 

"M-maybe you should walk ahead." She could see him just a bit in the dark, somehow a few corners of the cave were illuminated, glowing. Mio's hands messed with the hem of her dress, as she watched Free start to walk ahead. Letting out a sigh of relief, Mio walked behind him. It wasn't that she'd rather him be crushed by falling rocks, she was just scared of seeing something first. If Free saw something, he wouldn't make a big deal out of it, Mio felt safer this way, safer from her own self. They both carefully walked along the few pathways, listening to their own breathing, and the water at the back of the cave. In all honesty, Free looked quite creepy in the dark, but Mio was the same; she looked like a ghost.

 

Fifteen minutes, they'd been aimlessly walking for fifteen minutes. Mio had picked up a few things on the ground, thinking they were her stone, but Free guessed that when she threw them; they weren't her stone. Lifting a hand to his mouth, Free let out a rather loud yawn. Mixed in with his own voice, he could hear the little gasp of 'you-know-who'. With a deep breath, he turned to his side, and looked over at her with tired eyes.

 

". . . What."

 

"N-nothing, it's nothing. Let's keep going!" Mio bowed her head, and carried on. She scampered ahead, and poked her head behind a wall. "Oh, there's some stairs here!" So then, they took the stairs and came up to what looked like a dead end. . .

 

_"What the hell is this thing?"_

_"Hell if I know."_

_"Let's just get it back t-"_

 

"Could you give back my relic?" Mio reached out a hand. Upon closer inspection, these two were wearing hoods. One purple and blue, the other green and black.

 

"I knew we should have gotten out of here, Yugo, you're so slow,"

"Me!? I wasn't the one with a plan to step on her and walk away nonchalantly-"

"You don't even know what nonchalant means."

 

Mio and Free sweat. She passed a look over to him, and he shrugged. How would he know? He didn't remember a thing, Mio must have forgotten. Must be nice. The other two at the end of the cave were constantly bickering, and Mio was on a tremble spree, so Free didn't think anything was going to get done for a while. With the same dead expression, he stepped on forward, ignoring any little whines from the white haired girl; he knew he'd be fine. He reached a hand out. . .

 

"Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, you're helping the little wimp, aren't you."

"You're not getting this relic."

 

Free narrowed his eyes. "Hand it over."

 

"I don't think so." The one in green had the nerve to throw a fist. Uncomfortably experienced in such a thing, Free raised the same arm with more than enough time to spare. He felt knuckles hit his forearm, but for less than a second did the pain raise. His arm blocked the blow, as well as one of his eyes, which had him looking oddly scary. Before the other could make another move, Free had his wrist in his hand, gripping much too tightly for anyone's blood to flow.

 

"C-crap-"

"Yugo you're so careless, let me handle thi-"

"N-no. Don't. Give him the stone."

"What are you saying!?"

"I said _give him the stone!_ Something's wrong about this kid."

 

There was some silence, and from impatience, Free brutalized the grip even further. After a disgusting crack echoed at least ten times in the room, it was over. Free tossed the hand to the side, and Yugo went with it. Free reached the same hand out to Ukyo. His eyes, were dead, but, it was if they said; 'you'll get the same thing, so just give me the rock'. It took at least three whole seconds, before Ukyo gave up and smacked the rock in Free's hand. After that, the blonde didn't care less about what would happen back there. He turned on his heel and walked right out the clearing.

 

"Come on. Don't just stand there." He spoke late, but Mio still heard him.

 

"I-I'm coming." She responded, then scurried after him. They left the cave and were welcomed back to the beach with a daft of cold air. The sun had already went down, and the moon was making it's way up. It was a little chilly, but Free wasn't cold.

 

"Here." He handed over her little stone.

 

"Thank you. . ." Her dainty little hands grabbed onto it, before showing it to him properly. "This is a relic, not just any kind of stone. . . There's rumors, legends, prophecies and myths about these kinds of things, in dungeons and towers. Forests and even volcanoes. I like to think that this one is special. Look, there's a carving on it, and sometimes it glows when I touch it." She took a small step closer to the blonde, and brushed her fingers along the face of the stone. She was right, there was some sort of symbol on it, but, he'd never seen anything like it before. While Mio stared at the rock with shiny eyes, Free spent the time staring at her, wondering. Wondering why something that small and simple, made her so happy.

 

"So. . . Where are you going now? Free. You've lost your memory. What are you going to do now?" Her eyes lifted up to him. Ah, now he could tell they were baby pink, and some sort of green tinge to them.

 

That was a good question. . . He averted his gaze to the water again. Now what? Even if he were to try and regain his memory, he'd have no idea where to start. There were no hints, no guesses, nothing. All that was left, was this weirdo girl.

 

"I don't know." He responded truthfully, no point in lying.

 

"Why, don't you come with me?"

 

He looked over at her. For some reason, she looked happy. Free almost scoffed.

 

"No."

 

"Wh-why not? If you stay out on your own, who knows what'll happen to you. Why don't you come with me to the Explorations Guild? Let's form a team or something, and stay together!" Why, why did this make her so excited. They'd only met an hour ago, but she was throwing her life in his hands, and asked for his. So naive. He could take that stupid relic even easier than those others. All he had to do was ask, and she'd be shaking in her boots.

 

"Why should I?" That was rhetorical. If she actually answered, he'd tell her to shut up.

 

". . . You're my only hope."

 

Huh?

 

"You're like an angel, fallen from the sky. I feel like this is a sign." She clasped her hands together. "The relic is telling me so. It's telling me you're special."

 

That had to be the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. Only because he couldn't remember a thing.

 

"Will you join? We're friends, right?"

 

"Fine, just get dinner."

 

Ah, that was the day, he sold himself for some food. Yes, a growing boy needs to eat. Hopefully this girl had some money on her, like, a lot of it.


	3. FANCY.

"So you have to step on that grate there, and then they can scan you so they know who you are for when you come back." Mio pointed over to the grate installed into the _ground_. Both kids stood there, one looking over at the grate, and the other staring into the pit of absolutely nothing. They didn't budge, they didn't say anything; for a good while.

 

". . . Are you gonna go?" Free spoke up, scratching at the back of his head, then yawning into the same hand. He let out a defeated breath and slouched over, done. Mio sweat. He was hardly pressuring her, but his attitude made it seem like he was doing _more_ than just pressuring her. He was so bored, and Mio was so nervous, jittery, too many bad things.

 

"Y-yeah." She lowered her voice and dropped her hands to her side. . . Without bothering to take a deep breath, she quietly walked over to the grate and stepped on. From this view, Free could only see the waterfall of white hair down her back, but his eyes were closed; so he couldn't see a thing.

 

"UHH, OKAY, LOOKS LIKE A LADY."

 

Mio gasped and pulled her arms up to her chest.

 

"OKAY THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE WITH YOU, GET THEM ON THE GRATE." There was a voice from all the way down. Mio could hear the echo, and it was obvious they needed to yell; or else no one could hear. Although, maybe this person was just a bit too loud. Quickly, Mio stepped away and ushered Free to get on.

 

"I think they mean you." She was playing innocent; as if he was the one to have dragged her here.

 

"GET ON THE GRATE, CHRIST I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY." What a lie.

 

With an annoyed face- Free was not afraid to show how disgusted he was -the blonde tiredly stopped onto the fragile grate, causing Mio to slightly squeak. If he fell in, she'd be standing there with an open mouth for long enough to have caught ten flies and half a moth.

 

"HEY WATCH IT BUDDY. OK IT'S A DUDE; OBVIOUSLY. OKAY COME IN, SOMEONE WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU." The sentry guard wasn't very polite, or maybe they were just tired. It had been a long day, after all. Free passed a glance to Mio and she smile before skipping along inside. There was a narrow staircase going down, only two people could walk side by side, but Free lagged behind anyways. Mio scurried along, but he was taking his sweet time. Suddenly, she came to a halt, and he'd almost bumped into her.

 

"What's wrong-" The male asked; not surprised. He took a peek over at her face. Oh, there were the glittery eyes again. His gaze nonchalantly averted to what she was looking at. Lively. The place was so lively. People running along, chatting with others, some just filling out work forms, or reading books. The room was bright for being underground, and somehow there was even a window. It was like a little secret town.

 

"Hello there. Are you the two newcomers?"

 

"Yes! Thank you for allowing us in!" Mio hadn't even looked for anyone, and bowed her head completely down. She was facing straight, but the person was at her side. . . She stayed like that for two more seconds before raising her head, fixing her hair, and awkwardly looking to her side. "Oh, sorry."

 

"It's- no problem." They laughed nervously. Black hair, rather wavy, and brown skin. Brown eyes were a match, and they dressed cleanly. With a bit of mascara and lipstick; they could easily pass as a girl, but, this was a boy here. A red collared top and, a black somewhat-like blazer. Spanish guy, most likely. "What can we do for you?" He also held onto a white clipboard, Free wondered what he was writing before coming here.

 

"We- uhm." Mio stammered.

 

"We wanna join. Write our names down." Free jabbed a finger over at the clipboard, maybe his guess was right.

 

"Join. . . ?" The black haired male's eyes slightly widened. "It's been a while since we've gotten new recruits. . ." His pen tapped against the sheets of paper on his board. "But I can arrange it. I'll write your names down."

 

"Miora, Vienna Park- and, his is Free De La Hoya." Mio chirped. Free's response was a mere nod, not to confirm, but more of thanks; _'thanks for speaking for me, I'm too tired to talk'._

 

After some scribbling, the male nodded. "Alright. My name is Trad Vasquez, I'm the manager here. Follow me, I'll take you to meet the headmaster." At that, he was off.

 

"Maybe we should follow him." Mio said before catching up to Trad.

 

" _Maybe?"_ Free only mocked her because she wasn't there to hear it, but scoffed and went after her, too.

 

They were lead to the headmaster's room, where the doors were huge. Trad had only opened one of them, and lead the two inside. There were large windows behind the centerpiece desk. Strangely, some treasure chests. A teddy bear and jewelry box were placed atop the desk, as well as a nameplate; Christina Kuroda. . . There was a girl sitting at the desk, playing with something in her hand.

 

"Christina?"

 

"Oh! Yes! Hello!" She perked up and tossed whatever she had into a drawer. Her hair was raspberry purple, and one side pulled back with a headband. Her outfit was a striped pink and black top with a ribbon. Then, a dark purple skirt; very cute, very cute. "Hi there! My name is Christina, but you can call me Chris!"

 

"H-hello." Mio dipped her head again.

 

"Gosh, we haven't had rookies in a while! This is exciting! Right Trad?"

 

". . . Yes."

 

"Welcome aboard!"

 

"So, there's no test or anything?" Mio whispered, squinting her eyes.

 

"Test? Uh, no, no. No need for that, you two look very promising!" Chris grinned, more so at Mio than at Free. Actually, when she looked over at a half asleep Free, her expression twisted into one of confusion. "Yes, very promising. Alright, Trad you should show them to their room. Usually we don't room boys and girls together-"

 

"She's lying." Trad cut her off immediately, but Chris didn't change her sentence.

 

"-but we're a bit out of space. I'm sure you won't mind! You'll have worked so hard every day, you'll be too tired to do anything at night asides from sleep."

 

"Chris, what are you talking about-"

 

"Oh, just do your job Trad. I don't pay you to call me out every time I talk!"

 

". . . Fine, fine." The male fanned himself with his clipboard. "Come along, you'll have somewhere nice to stay, don't worry." Then, he ushered the two out the room. Outside, they were greeted by two other boys, one with messily brushed back blonde hair, and a black jacket, the other with green hair that looked incredibly fake, plus some sort of lightning bolt. His glasses weren't even sunshades, so maybe this dolt had bad eyesight but didn't want to admit it. His clothes? Very improper.

 

"Finally! I'm not one of the lowest rookies anymore. Hey, were you two the ones who just showed up?" The blonde chirped.

 

"Yes." Trad answered for them; good on him.

 

"Oh, so you're the tough guy who tried breaking my grate." Rockstar here wanted to pick a fight, grimacing at Free; who was very unfazed. "Say something buddy."

 

"That's enough Silas, get back to work, no slacking off. You as well, Rantaro." A problem had already broken out, Trad was starting to doubt everything.

 

"Wait, wait, I wanna talk to the pretty girl though-"

 

"You will do NO such thing; come on kids." He shot back, then started to practically push Mio and Free down the hall.

 

There were a couple doors on either side, and one all the way at the end. Trad unlocked, and pushed the door open. to the left; there were two beds, both a bit apart from one another; separated by a bedside table- with a lamp on top -and a little light blue rug. Above the beds was a window covered with a red curtain; it was small, but good small. The room also had one dresser, a closet, and white suede sofa; which Free had already claimed as his. He kicked his feet up on the damn thing and fell right asleep; didn't even take off his shoes. There was also a little coffee table; this would be nice for working or eating.

 

"You two will stay here, you're welcome to personalize the room however you like; but you are the ones who will clean it. Fair?"

 

"Yes!" Mio clapped her hands together and placed her little messenger bag on her chosen bed. The pillows were white and sheets were red like the curtains. It definitely looked soft. Trad stepped over to Free and reached his hand out. Without bothering to open his eyes, Free opened his hand; he was expecting the keys to the place.

 

"By the way." Trad dropped two pieces of metal in Free's hand; yes, the keys. One for Mio and one for him- which he'll never use ever, but instead depend on Mio to have hers. "Chris doesn't pay me at all." Trad added, then left. Free grimaced.

 

"I didn't ask." He was late, but he said it anyway. The door was closed, and now the two had the room completely to themselves. Then, he remembered something strange. Free was here because he had nowhere else to go; he couldn't remember a thing and didn't even know where he was. As for Mio? What about her? She didn't lose her memory, at least he didn't think so. "Hey-"

 

"Thanks."

 

". . ."

 

"For everything. I- wouldn't have gotten this far without you. This is my dream, this is all I've ever wanted, and it's happening." She gripped onto her bag. "So thank you! For being apart of my new life."

 

Free propped his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling. He didn't really do anything, but she was thanking him. Frankly, she was the one who helped him back on the beach.

 

"New life." He mumbled under his breath. It was the same for him, too. Maybe it didn't matter, what her whole backstory was. This was a new one.

 

"Tomorrow. Will you go to town with me?" She chimed.

 

"Sure." And he liked it.


	4. SECRET.

A day to go into town; Treasure Town. Apparently Mio said she hadn't seen it before, she hadn't ever been in the town. Free guessed she had just got to this area, but he was too lazy to ask more. Besides, he promised himself not to bother with that thing. He wasn't going to provoke her, she didn't provoke him about his past; asides from the fact he had forgotten it. Yet, she could have still doubted him and pestered further, as if he could somehow remember. Free debated knocking his head against the wall, but she'd flip out and get scared; she was an anxious one.

 

Mio took her little brown bag with her, as well as the keys; Free made sure not to bring his. He couldn't remember where he left it anyway. Before they left, Mio spent a while trying to wake up Free and convince him to keep his promise to go out. She shook him, tried to yell at him, and pulled the bed sheets; but even dead asleep he was still much stronger than her. Mio was out of ideas. Finally, she threw all aside and dived onto him. Free would refer to the situation as a feather tickling his nose when someone was trying to pry him from his God Given Right; Bed.

 

He was still a little salty about it, but, he kept it to himself. Free trudged down the pretty stone road after the bouncing white haired girl. Town was off to the right; Trad said so. Mio took a right, Free followed, yawned, continued.

 

"Good morning, my dear." An old granny walking past gave greeting to Mio; who happily smiled and responded sweetly. "You as well, sonny." The old lady turned to Free. Free was confused, how was he supposed to respond? Maybe he should have paid more attention to how Mio did, but by the time he was about to bow - the lady was gone. He kind of spaced out then.

 

"Hey, are you okay?" Mio poked her head into view, and placed both her hands on his arms, she looked concerned. Free almost didn't realize she was concerned about _him_. He nodded. Mio returned a bright smile and pulled him along. There was tons of flowers, grass, stone grounds, a gorgeous wishing fountain in the middle. Shops lined the ends of the roads, some under fluffy green tree's and beside rows of petunias. There were people scattered all over the place, young ones, old ones, foreign ones, strange ones; Mio and Free. Suddenly, Free forgot why he was here.

 

"Are you hungry?"

 

Now he has remembered. He looked over at her with puppy eyes.

 

"Let's see if we can find somewhere to eat, don't worry I have some money!" She chirped. Free nodded, as usual, and they both attempted to walk peacefully down the road. So many people smiled at him, and Free didn't have enough to react, or, smile back? He didn't really get it. Maybe he'd have understood before he lost his memory, but now everything was such a blur, even in the real time. His hands were shoved in his pockets, and he stuck rather close to Mio this time, rather than lagging behind. Then, suddenly, he was hit with a sweet, warm smell. He slightly stuck his nose in the air to get a better whiff, and looked around. There was a bakery; Aoi Bakery. Whatever that means.

 

"There." Free pointed over, trying to get Mio's attention. She was looking the other way, and didn't pay him any attention. With narrowed eyes and a frown, he stepped behind her and completely turned her to see the bakery. "There." He repeated.

 

"Oh! Okay we can get some bread!" Mio peeked over her shoulder, then lead the way inside. Quietly, she opened the door; but a chime blew her cover.

 

"Welcome!" A nice lady from behind the counter called out. Free took the first moves, and inspected the breads. Sausage bun, sesame bun, pretzel bun. They all looked plain. On the other side though, were the danishes. Custard buns, cream cheese danishes, strawberry cream cheese, blueberry, lemon custard buns, the sweet stuff looked so much better. Mio seemed to agree. Free poked at the glass, pointing at the blueberry cream cheese pastry. He liked the colours, otherwise; he had no idea what it was.

 

"Excuse me!" Mio raised a hand, and the lady scampered over. "Two of these please." She pointed at the pastry.

 

"Oh, you two are so cute, I love seeing kids outside. I wonder where my own have gone off today." The woman laughed, taking out the danishes and slipping them into flat white packets."My name is Chiharu, so what are you two up to today?"

 

"Oh- uhm." Mio passed a glance to Free; he wanted his food.

 

"Ahh, okay, okay! I won't poke at you too much." Chiharu chirped, passing over the pasties. "I haven't seen you two before, that's all. This one is on the house if you promise you'll come see me again."

 

"O-of course, thank you so much." Mio shimmered. The woman smiled at her, then turned to Free, as if she was waiting for something; which she was.

 

"Where are your manners?" She was joking more than scolding him, but he didn't understand it. His eyebrows raised. He stared at her for a while.

 

". . . Thanks." He managed to spit it out, the woman seemed satisfied. After that, they left, and Mio had told him something.

 

_"You did really well, you're a good person."_

 

He didn't get it, and he didn't think he'd ever understand it. Even still, it felt nice. She did call him a good person, but he didn't exactly know why. They both strayed over to the side and sat on a bench under a tree. The shade was nice for once. The white packets cracked as they tried to pull the pastry out. Mio held onto hers with the packet, and Free just pulled his out. For a second he wondered if he did it wrong, then realized it didn't matter. He took a bite; and it was nice. Mio took small bites, savoring the flavor.

 

"I like it here." She muttered with her mouth full. "It'd be nice to live here forever. With you."

 

He watched her. Then took another bite.

 

They sat there for a couple minutes, Free had already finished his food a while ago, and Mio had just finished. They were just about to get up and move on when a little cry caught them off guard. A little girl tripped over. A little girl with high twin tails in bright pink, wearing a cute orange and red dress.

 

"Oh dear, are you alright?" Mio called out and scampered over. She was too quick with these things, Free had to keep up. Mio knelt down beside the little girl. Small tears pricked at the ends of the little one's eyes, and she lifted her knee. It was a little scrape. She seemed a bit too nervous to talk, somehow, Mio could tell. "Don't worry sweetie, here, hold my hand." Mio reached out her dainty fingers. The girl placed her hand in Mio's. Free remembered this. When she fixed his headache. Mio's other hand placed fingers gently on the young girl's knee. Right before their eyes, the scrape disappeared, and the skin was no longer red.

 

"Wow. . . That was so cool!" The little girl started to glitter.

 

"Be careful okay? But if you ever get hurt, I'll help you. Just make a wish, and I'll come running." Mio's eyes were so soft.

 

"Okay! Thank you nice lady!" The pink haired girl stood up and scampered off.

 

"Nika! Let's go!" In the distance there was another child about her age, with bright cyan hair.

 

"Coming, Toko!" Then, she was out of sight. They must have gone off to play some more, hopefully safely.

 

"How did you do that?" Free scanned his dark eyes back to the girl beside him. She looked a bit confused, but then laughed.

 

"It's. . . Something I had for a while. If you get hurt, I can heal you, I just have to focus real hard and think about your heart." Mio tried her best to explain to him. He only tilted his head. "If you're pure, if you're a good person. I'll always be able to heal you."

 

She kept saying things he didn't understand.


	5. RECKLESS.

With a ton of bags in hand; all necessities for home life at the Explorations Guild, as well as some extra things to make their room much more homely - Free and Mio were finally going home. Much too late, the kids realized that they'd woken up rather early, and it was currently only a bit after lunch time. Mio only went overboard because Free didn't bother to stop her; she bought pretty pillows, an alarm clock, snacks (Free wanted them), vase, flowers, tablecloth, and a little chalkboard plate. The rest was all extra crap that didn't matter all that much, like a coupled stuffed toys that Mio couldn't resist. When they got back to their room, Free dropped everything including himself on the sofa. Meanwhile, Mio placed the chalkboard up on their door, and wrote down their names: _Free and Mio's Room._ Two flowers, then she was done. Although, she didn't come back for a while.

 

Staring at the ceiling, Free tried to block out all the thoughts crowing in his mind, before he was hit with another nasty headache. His eyes screwed shut for a moment, but another bolt of pain ran through his nerves, and he pressed the back of his hand against his forehead. It was so sudden, and so brutal; it made no sense. Mio wasn't around to fix it, so he attempted to get up and look for her. It hit again, worse. It felt more like a knife than a hammer, and his vision went blurry. Everything was a fade, asides from someone's voice. Someone was calling out, he heard it as if they were right beside him; it was loud.

 

_'P-please help- nice lady-! Help me!'_

 

He felt like he was going crazy, and pressed his palm firmly against his ear. God, he didn't want to hear anything anymore. Sitting up on the sofa, he hunched over with one hand against his ear, and the other gripping his forehead. He felt like clawing his skin out- it hurt, but he didn't know how else to get rid of the pain. Any little sound felt like it was amplified by a hundred, and the door burst open- that was the worst. Clenching his teeth, Free let out a small gasp, trying to suck in some kind of good air.

 

"Free? Hey are you alright?" Mio closed the door behind her. When he didn't answer in a mere second, she scurried over and immediately dropped to her knees in front of him. She was shorter, but he was on the sofa anyways, so she looked much shorter from here. Her heart beat was nearly bursting out of her chest, blood pulsing with some kind of cruel horror. "Oh God, it must be the headache again-" She grabbed his hand from his forehead and gripped it tightly. "Please look at me."

 

He didn't budge. Free was scaring her. She guessed it was too much for him, and carefully lifted his chin with her other hand. His messy blonde hair fell over his eyes, he looked exhausted. Suddenly, she felt bad for dragging him around everywhere, and carrying all her new stuff. She pressed her dainty little hand against his forehead; it was hot and he was sweating already. The familiar glow emanated from her little fingers, and Free took in a small breath. It smelled just a tiny bit like apples; weird. The stinging in his brain finally settled, and there was that pleasant cooling again. Finally he could relax. Before Mio could pull her hands back, he grabbed onto her wrist. She'd barely moved an inch, and he already had her captive.

 

". . . Does it feel nice?" She asked, lifting her brows. He hardly nodded, but that was enough, and a smile quickly brightened her features. "I'm glad. . . What happened? Can you talk?"

 

"I heard something."

 

She waited.

 

"It- sounded like that little girl we met." He furrowed his brows, trying to remember _exactly_ what happened. The pain was so much he wasn't even sure what was going on, he wasn't even sure if he was alive. "Yeah."

 

"What did you hear her say?" Mio looked over to the window, she thought the girl was outside maybe?

 

". . . Help." Free stated plainly, before finally lifting his eyes up to her. "She wanted your help."

 

"I don't- understand. . ." Mio squinted. She didn't know what else to say. Then there was a knock on the door; which pissed Free off immediately. Trad opened the door, no surprise there, Mio must have forgotten to lock it. She did run to Free's rescue after all, he couldn't blame her.

 

"Here, you two. There's been a notice of a recent crime, if you know anything about it then come by my office." Trad nonchalantly passed a sheet of paper over; not bothering to question why Mio was sitting on the floor, and Free on the couch. Mio took hold of the white sheet and peeked at the front. "Yes, two kids were kidnapped."

 

"Oh my gosh! That's awful!" Mio looked over at Free, but he had no reaction. "A little girl. . . Nika and a boy Toko-" She paused. Both Free and Trad expected her to say something else, but she tossed the paper away and bolted out of the room without a word. Trad wasn't given a second to react, but once she was gone he smacked himself at the forehead with his clipboard.

 

"What is she going to do?" He turned to Free, who stared. . .

 

"I gotta go." And that was that, Free was gone, looking for the white haired girl. She was easy to spot in a crowd, or far away, but he didn't know where she went. Fretting over that girl, he almost bumped into _another_ kid.

 

"H-Hey! You!"

 

"Me."

 

"You're friends with that girl right! You know my little brother and sister, hey, you've gotta help them!" This kid had giant brown eyes, some sort of red mark on his cheek, and spiky blue hair; held up with some yellow thing. Free wasn't impressed at all.

 

"I'm already on it." The blonde was going to brush past, but the kid hopped in front of him again. Free looked to the side in annoyance.

 

"Be careful."

 

"Right." To make things quick, Free responded fast and took off. All the way outside the Guild was where he found Mio, trying to get information from Chiharu. The poor lady was in tears.

 

"Oh my, what am I going to do- what am I going to do. My little boy and girl."

 

"P-please calm down, I'll find them, I promise you." Mio clasped her hands together. Free grabbed her wrist, but he didn't pull. "Oh, there you are."

 

"Let's go, don't waste time."

 

"Right, okay. I'll show you where Chiharu said they went." Despite Mio knowing the area, Free was the one who took the lead. He seemed to know exactly where he was going. Mentally, Mio mapped out the directions, straight past down, make a left at the park, continue on, for a long while, and down in an old alleyway; supposedly. Free took every right turn, and didn't look back to see if Mio was following. The white haired girl decided not to question it, and followed silently; to his liking.

 

_"Please help- nice lady-! Help me!"_

 

The two scampered in search for the two kids. The last alley was behind an old apartment that looked more run down than abandoned. Glass was littered across the dirt floor, and upon closer inspection, there were pills too. They both scuttled in the little crevice of a pathway, and to the left was a dead end; strong with the smell of alcohol. Toko and Nika were up against the rather dirty brick wall, and in front of them was someone dressed in a light blue hoodie. They were rather short.

 

"Hey!" Mio called out. The two kids' eyes filled with hope. The supposed criminal here, slowly turned around. Jet black hair, overly sharp teeth, a baseball cap under the hood, and hydroxyzine coloured hues. Mio was creeped out, she shuffled behind Free.

 

"Are you here to play too?" This was a young boy talking. A young boy was the kidnapper? It couldn't be possible. "I think I heard your spirits talk to me one day." His voice was raspy and rather sing-song like.

 

"Wh-what the hell is he on about?" Mio squeaked out. In attempt to calm her down, Free just pushed her even further behind him. Basically he said; _'shut up.'_

 

"They want to be saved, they want to be saved. You're both in incredible distress, but if you play with me-" his hand shuffled through his pockets, and pulled out two brightly coloured green pills. "These will help you- especially you." He smiled, it was uneasy. His eyes were staring daggers through the white haired girl. The two kids in the back held onto one another, little cuts at their legs, knees and hands; they must have fallen on the class while running away. Free thought out the situation perfectly. This young boy was just a boy, and his only weapon seemed to be _drugs_. Free wasn't going to let them be shoved down his throat, so there was no need to even hesitate. The blonde strut right up to the hooded boy, ignoring anything Mio muttered out.

 

"Don't waste your breath." The blonde hissed. He raised his hand, but.

 

"Don't hurt him-!"

 

He stopped.

 

"Don't you dare hurt him."

 

He didn't know why she'd ask him to stop, he was helping her. She was shaking in her boots and he was saving both her and those kids, yet she told him to stop. He was just about to punish a no good criminal, possible drug addict even as a child, wasn't think a good thing? He looked over his shoulder tiredly, and Mio was making small steps closer to him. She knew exactly what he was capable of, but just hadn't seen him at his worst; whatever that was. The hooded child didn't say a thing, he just watched everything play out, carefully.

 

"I can handle this." Mio was lying straight through her teeth.

 

"No you can't."

 

"Get the kids. Just trust me." She managed to steady her speaking, but it didn't seem convincing in the slightest. Free glared at her for a moment, but he gave up and huffed away. The twins immediately latched onto him, more concerned on how they were going to get home more than anything else. They were just kids, after all.

 

"What do you want from me-" The young boy in the hood shoved the pills back into his pocket and took a small step away. Mio, crouched down to a bit lower than his height.

 

"This isn't the answer my dear. Kids would love to play with you, but when you approach them like this. . ." She placed her hands on his shoulders. "It's not nice. They don't like it."

 

"But. That's what the spirits told me to do. . ."

 

"What spirits?"

 

"I hear them all the time. When I'm at home."

 

"What do they sound like?"

 

"They sound a lot like my mom. They say that these pills make everything better, and everyone is happy. So I get them from the bathroom."

 

Mio rubbed his shoulder. "These pills won't help you. The spirits are not the kids from town."

 

He had no response.

 

"Come here." Her arms opened up for the child. It didn't even take him a second before he stepped over and hugged onto her. He was rather gentle, so Mio didn't squeeze him too tightly, just enough to let him know that she was still there. "Everything is okay without those pills. I'm sure the spirits meant to tell you that instead."

 

 

The commotion was over a couple minute later. Mio found out that the young boy lived in the battered down area he took Toko and Nika to. His name was Jin Aizawa, and he came from a broken family. His father had passed away not long ago, and his mother gave into heavy drugs, methamphetamine, injections, cocaine, anything that would numb the pain of such a loss. Mio couldn't help him in that part, but she promised that she'd play with him every week, they'd play whatever he wanted until sun down; as long as he never rummaged through his mother's things again and corner children in back alleys. Frankly, Mio was upset that such a boy was labeled a cruel criminal, with intents of actual murder. He'd taken away kids sometimes, but they were never badly hurt at all. He'd never forced any drugs onto the other kids either, he'd just let them run off after a while. Like any other child; they'd be bawling and couldn't get their words straight, there was never a reliable story. Mio let Jin off the hook, she wouldn't say a word about him to the Guild, Police, anything unless it was absolutely mandatory.

 

Currently, Mio and Free had taken back the twins to their mother after she healed their little scrapes. It wasn't much, but, the red skin was enough to scare them and think it hurt more than it really did. Chiharu was so happy to see her children, as well as both the older kids; safe and sound. As well as the young boy who'd stopped Free, who was known as Valt Aoi. He was their older brother, who'd also been fretting over them just as much as his mother. The family was reunited, and they rewarded Free and Mio with tons of treats and bread. In retrospect, they'd have been rewarded with a lot of money for turning in Jin Aizawa, but they weren't thinking of that at the time. Free was more than happy with the food. After tons, and tons of thank you's and you're always welcome here's, Mio took Free home with her.

 

Their bags were still unpacked, and now that they had all this bread, there were even more. Free was too tired, and Mio was just as beat. After cleaning up, they went right to bed.

 

"Free." Mio turned to her side to watch him. He'd been laying on his back, arms behind his head and eyes closed, again. Although, he opened one, just to side eye Mio.

 

"Yeah."

 

"I'm sorry."

 

"Why."

 

"I never said thank you, for helping me."

 

He scoffed. "Too late for that."

 

"Would you really have hurt that child?"

 

He pondered for a moment. Would he? Free didn't answer her, which was concerning. Maybe he really would have. While he thought about the situation, Mio was thinking about the people. It was different.

 

"I don't want you to hurt people. Can you promise me you won't?"

 

"What if you get hurt doing something stupid like that again?" Free turned away. "Right, you'll just heal yourself."

 

"I can't." "I can't heal myself."

 

"Why not?"

 

"I just can't do it. I don't know why."

 

He didn't say anything. It was a little frustrating to talk to him, but Mio had patience.

 

"Goodnight. Mio."

 

". . . Goodnight. Sleep well."

 


	6. DAINTY.

Thin blades of vibrant green grass tickled at the sides of his arms, and brushed against his pale cheek every so often. The sun was nearly blinding, but it was warm, kissing his forehead good morning. The crisp smell of spring, the waft of flowers' perfume drafted past the nose. The soft breeze tousling his soft, messy blonde hair. The sky was void of a single cloud. At the corner of his eye, there was a hand, a small, dainty little hand reaching out to his cheek and brushing against the skin. Confused, Free turned his head to look at the culprit; ruining his perfect minutes. No one was there. Someone was there, but no one was there. He felt a hand against his face, but he could see anyone there. It wasn't blurry, or blanked out, he just couldn't see the person. . . But he could hear them, just barely whisper; "Free."

 

"GUYS WAKE UP. WAKE UP!"

 

Everything went black. Then he head a thud nearby. Wincing, Free regrettably snapped his eyes open. His eyes slowly adjusted to the bright morning. The rays of sun fluttered into the room, and sat in pools on the carpeted floor. Free furrowed his brows and let out a small groan of annoyance. It must have been really early, but he didn't want to wake up.

 

"Shut up." He mumbled under his breath and tossed to his side. He was facing Mio's bed, but, she was nowhere to be seen. Free restrained himself from sighing deeply, and slowly sat up in bed. He looked down.

 

"Aiiiish. . . Jeez, what a wake up call." She was on the floor. Must have fallen off the bed. Free meant to laugh, but ended up just barely smiling. "Oh, good morning!" Her head perked up, and she chirped, smiling brightly. His response was just cocking his head to the side, but that was enough for her. Mio scrambled up to her feet, and started to flatten down her fluffy hair. His eyes averted to straight ahead of him, now he started to think about his dream. He heard a voice, but couldn't tell who it was. Maybe it was someone he knew before. . . Before he knew nothing. Part of him couldn't care less, but it was also bugging him. He already came to terms with the fact he'd never be able to get his memory back; he told himself that. Yet it decided to suddenly harass him out of the blue. He looked over at Mio, and she'd already finished making her bed. Her hair was all messy, and ruffled, guess that was the cost for having so much of it. Although, the white locks still cascaded down her back like a waterfall. . . No, she couldn't have been in his dream.

 

Finally deciding it really _was_ morning, Free dragged himself out of bed. Mio flattened out his sheets while he went to clean up, then she followed suit. Afterwards, she spent too much time trying to brush out her hair, and nearly begged the blonde to do it for her. He gave up after she offered to buy lunch, and grabbed the brush from her hand. She awkwardly stood in front of the mirror, while he tried to figure things out, gliding the brush through her hair, a bit too roughly. Each time she'd slightly wince, or whine, he tried to apologize with a simple 'sorry', but found it too hard to say, then it was just too late.

 

"Next time, ask Chris." The blonde huffed, combing her bangs down. "Here." He handed her the brush, then flicked her forehead, earning a tiny 'owch!' in return.

 

"That's so mean!"

 

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he followed her out the room and caught up with the others. There he was. There was the boy that _woke him up_. For an entire three minutes, Free gave Rantaro the devil's eye, ignoring a little bluenette's chirping.

 

"Oh! You two!" Trad paced over, with his clipboard as usual. "I have a job for the both of you! I asked Silas and Rantaro to do something else for today, so you'll take their job. Sentry duty."

 

". . . What's that?" Mio muttered, leaning slightly closer.

 

"You'll scan people and welcome them into the guild. Remember when you two first came here? You were asked to step on a grate before you were allowed in, so you'll do that job." The raven smiled, as if it was an easy job. Mio slowly, slowly hunched over and sunk in her place. A small pout marred her features.

 

"So, we're not getting a real job?" She attempted to give him puppy eyes. Trad froze in his place, and let out a defeated sigh.

 

"Next time." His eyebrows furrowed, and he pat her head. "If you do well today, you'll be given a very good reward." It was like he was talking to a tiny child.

 

"Fine." Free's answer was simple, and he slightly took a step forward. Trad responded with a curt nod and escorted them to the security room. There were buttons and devices scattered everywhere, it was hard to believe two hyper boys like Rantaro and Silas managed to work this place properly, asides from all the yelling. Mio immediately didn't know if she could do it. In the blink of an eye, Trad was gone, he hardly explained a thing, and left the two kids standing there like idiots. The room was narrow, and quite small, but gave enough breathing room for the two.

 

"Uhm, okay, he said, this. . . Was the microphone?" Mio plopped herself down on one of the chairs. Free copied her, but he just _had_ to kick his feet up onto the dashboard. His heel must have hit something, and the lights flickered off. They couldn't see a damn thing. "Wh-what happened!" Mio piped up.

 

". . . Yikes." Free didn't sound bothered in the slightest. Now it was pitch black, he could sleep.

 

"A-ah!! Ah crap, I can't see a thing, Free? Free?"

 

"What?"

 

"Oh good, you're still here!"

 

"Where would I have gone?"

 

"Anywhere but here!" Mio frantically pat her hands around, flicking switches and pressing buttons. "Oh gosh, I can't get the light on."

 

"Hello! Are you two okay down there?" The intercom went off. It was Trad.

 

Mio started to sweat. . . "Y-yes! Yes we're fine!" She responded, reaching over to Free's end and pushing his feet slightly to the other side. Her hand slammed down on the dashboard, and only the screen flashed on. At least there was some light, she could see. Dangerously close to a certain blonde's face.

 

"Are you done yet?" Nonchalant as usual.

 

"I-I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She threw herself back onto her chair and turned away, pressing her hands against heated cheeks. The blue tinted television screen above illuminated the room in a rather scary, gloomy atmosphere. It felt like they were in a horror movie. One where Mio couldn't catch a break, and where Free could sleep through peacefully. His arms lifted to the back of his head, ans he finally nestled his eyes shut.

 

"There's a whole lineup of people, and even a police officer, this is terrible, um. . ." Mio scanned the room for the microphone and pressed the red button. "H-hello! Please step onto the grate!" She stared up up at the screen, looking for a reaction. After leaving for only a few seconds, apparently Rantaro was coming back inside. Or maybe he was testing her. She couldn't mess this up. Once he stepped on the grate, with full confidence, she pressed the button to scan. Only. It wasn't the scan. With her own two eyes, Mio watched the poor boy fall into a pit of nothingness. . .

 

"Nice one." Even half asleep, Free would poke fun at her.

 

 

"You two did awful." The truth hurt like nothing else. Trad would never stop scolding them. "You turned off the power, then ruined the screen, and nearly killed Rantaro! That's the worst anyone has ever done!" He smacked his clipboard against Mio's head. If Trad was anyone else, Free'd have snapped that damn thing in half. Although, doing that would lead to more punishment, so he didn't bother.

 

"Actually, I think they did pretty well." Silas jested with a rather loud laugh. Mio felt even worse.

 

Rantaro spit out a leaf. "Gross."

 

"I'm. I'm so sorry about that-" Mio trailed off, her hands clasped together against her chest. Such an innocent thing.

 

"It's fine, it's fine. I had worse." Rantaro responded dismissively, waving a hand in the air. "Just. Promise me you won't do it again." He managed a smile, for the girl's sake. Mio nodded.

 

"As punishment. You two will go without dinner." Trad stated like an angry teacher, turned on his heel and made off. Who knows where.

 

That left both Mio and Free out on the streets, chewing on bread from Chiharu's bakery. She was kind enough to give them some without being paid, probably because the two twins begged her. They were such sweet little kids. Mio dropped herself down in the grass and let out a deep sigh.

 

"That went awful." Her voice cracked, as if she was about to cry. She munched at her bread. "I don't deserve this food."

 

"I'll take it."

 

"No."

 

Free huffed. He sat down beside her and dropped his back into the grass, it felt better to lay down. The sky was navy blue and twinkling with fine stars, as far as the eye could see. Suddenly he was reminded of his dream again, except, it was night in reality. Maybe he liked the night better, it was much more quiet.

 

"Here, eat yours." Mio shuffled through a white paper bag, fished out a piece of bread and hovered it over Free's mouth. She expected him to bite, but, he just took it with his hand instead. "I wish I was as carefree as you."

 

He didn't bother to take that as a compliment or insult. He peeked over at the white haired girl, she was clearly more upset than anyone about the whole fiasco. It was her dream to be here, and, she blew it, right? Maybe it was his responsibility to say something, to make her feel better. It was half his fault that the whole thing bombed after all.

 

"Don't." He responded late. His voice was rather airy, Mio found it nice to listen to, but he didn't really talk much. "You're fine the way you are."

 

She smiled. Maybe a bit too much, and her eyes went glassy, now she looked like she was crying, oh, she was.

 

"Thank you." Mio choked on her words, and wiped at her eye with the back of her hand. "Thank you, you're the best!" She threw herself onto him.

 

Even in his first life, he couldn't see himself as 'the best'.


End file.
